Law trumps iron fist in fight against drugs
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has apparently tried to justify his bloodthirsty approach to dealing with the drug epidemic. On Friday, he likened himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in his bid to exterminate three million drug users and peddlers in the Philippines. “If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...” he said, pausing and pointing to himself, according to media reports. His comment may have been spontaneous and crude, and was subject to a massive backlash yesterday, but it is interesting to hear Mr Duterte make the comparison. It may also show Mr Duterte is aware of the downside of his bloodthirsty campaign against drugs.
Mr Duterte was voted to power in a May election on the back of a vow to end drugs and corruption in the country of 100 million people. He took office on June 30 and more than 3,100 people have been killed since then, mostly but not exclusively drug users and peddlers, in police operations and vigilante killings.
However, no one is convinced Mr Duterte’s hard-core approach will eliminate drug dealers and users. Worse, there are concerns that some of the victims were innocent people. Human rights groups claimed that there have been abuses of suspects’ rights in the name of suppression.
Mr Duterte’s belligerence is reminiscent of what happened in Thailand under former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
In 2003, he announced an all-out war to suppress drug dealers. The outcome, however, was more like arbitrary killings. Up to 2,800 people were killed in the first three months of the campaign. That’s about 30 deaths a day.
Investigations conducted later showed many of those executed were not really drug dealers. The aggression was exacerbated because of conflicts in sensitive areas, such as the far South. Thaksin’s anti-drug war also unfairly targeted some ethnic minority groups who were subject to the stereotyped belief they were involved in the drug trade.
Regardless of whether authorities have killed the wrong people, or even committed murder, drug dealers and traffickers should be brought to trial, not executed.
This is to ensure justice for the accused and to enable investigators to gather more information about big-time drug dealers. Some were also blacklisted even though they were not related to drug trafficking.
The headcount of people being executed on drug-related charges does not translate to success; in fact, the results show otherwise
It turned out that most people caught and killed were only street-level criminals, with the drug lords spared from the crackdown.
Like Thaksin, Mr Duterte won the popular vote with his bravado style, which energised voters. Both promised a quick fix to chronic problems such as narcotics. The campaign initially resonated with many voters who were fed up with the long-standing drug issue at home.
However, the headcount of people being executed on drug-related charges does not translate to success; in fact, the results have shown otherwise.
The number of drug cases are still rising in Thailand as narcotics are transported across the border. Thai cells are crowded with small-time drug dealers, while the drug lords are still out there.
Thailand’s unfortunate experience can offer an obvious example of how to fight a successful war against the drug trade.
It shows that a campaign of bloodshed does not win the war against drug dealers because it does not address the root cause of the problem. The consequent alleged abuses also reveal that the campaign was on the wrong track because the battle against narcotics should engage the community rather than alienating them through fear.
Narcotics can be better tackled via effective prevention by reaching out to vulnerable communities. Strong and earnest enforcement of law is required. Drug trafficking often involves the corruption of officers in power. A massive amount of meth tablets and crystallised methamphetamine are transferred domestically and trafficked across the border every day.
In fact, drug trafficking requires cooperation from countries involved. As Thailand and the Philippines are Asean members, measures to tackle the issue beyond the national borders require cooperation from the countries involved.
Populist leaders like Mr Duterte and Thaksin like to say they don’t want to listen to lectures from other countries when it comes to drug suppression at home. In fact, they don’t have to.
But the leaders must guarantee the basic rights of their people. At a minimum, any suspect should receive a fair trial. Officers must be able to do their job to bring the real culprits to justice without any interference. In fact, effective suppression can be done by simply following law and order.